The State College Area School Board on Monday unanimously approved a final $211.5 million 2025-26 budget that includes a 4% real estate tax increase.
The increase — which is the maximum allowable this year under the state’s Act 1 index — is a 2.0369 mill addition that brings the district’s millage to 52.9597 mills.
For a property with a median county-assessed value of of $74,208, the average increase will be $147, though amounts could be lower or higher depending on if a homeowner qualifies for tax relief for an eligible homestead or farmstead property.
The board held multiple discussions about the budget and a May 19 public hearing before adopting the final plan this week.
The budget projects $207,532,731 in revenue, a 4.8 percent increase from 2024-25, and $211,522,675 in expenses, a 3% increase.
Personnel costs, which are expected to increase by $8.9 million and constitute 74% of the budget, are the primary drivers of the increase in expenses, according to the district. That includes addition of staff and contract increases, along with rising costs of benefits. Required contributions to the Pennsylvania School Employees Retirement System increase $2.149 million from the 2024-25 budget.
Six new positions are funded in the 2025-26 budget:
• A new special education teacher will help to meet the needs and requirements of the district’s growing special education population. The district is required by federal mandate to meet student-teacher ratios for special education.
• A special education department clerical position will help respond to the department’s reporting and billing needs, including reports prepared to collect reimbursement for services and facilitating transportation for students with individualized education plans and 504 plans, which is currently outsourced to a third party. Reimbursements and decreased third-party costs are expected to help offset the cost of the position.
• A new business education teacher will be hired to meet the Pennsylvania Department of Education mandate that, starting with the 2025-26 freshman class, completion of a new personal finance course is required for high school graduation. State High enrolls about 2,400 students and multiple sections of the course will be required.
• A new school psychologist position will help meet increasing parent requests for special education and gifted services evaluations. Board President Amy Bader and Finance and Operations Officer Randy Brown previously explained that the district is required to provide the evaluations upon request in a timely manner not only for district students but also for private and charter school students in its boundaries.
• A student activities and athletic manager will be hired because of increasing participation in extracurriculars. The position will assist with district-wide activities and athletics programs, overseeing student clubs as well as PIAA and intramural athletics programming, including scheduling, facility management, equipment purchasing and hiring.
• An additional physical plant custodian will allow Radio Park and Park Forest elementary schools, which currently share one position, to each have a full-time custodian.
Increases in substitute pay rates are also planned. Day-to-day substitute teacher pay will increase from $120 to $135 per day for emergency permit substitute teachers and $140 for certified educator substitutes. Daily rates for retiree substitute teachers and building substitute teacher will also increase by $15 to $150 per day.
Among other expenditure growth, the district also expects “significant” increases in utility rates for water, sewer, natural gas and electric. (Savings anticipated from the district’s participation in the Solar Power Purchase Agreement will not be assessed until the 2026-2027 budget.)
Other increasing recurring costs include additional security for extracurricular events, contracted transportation carriers and charter schools, which at $7.1 million constitute 3% of the district budget.
On the income side, local revenue of $164.5 million represents about 79% of the district’s projected income for 2025-26, and of that 76% comes from real estate taxes.
Interest on investments has been in decline and the district projects a “drop off” in 2025-26 based on recent trends, falling from $4.5 million to an anticipated $2.25 million, Assistant Business Administrator Joe Viglione said in April.
State revenue — about 20% of the budget — is projected to increase by about $100,000 to $41.3 million, while federal revenue, which is less than 1%, is expected to decrease by $140,000 to $1.475 million.
Projected state revenue of $41.9 million represents 20% of the budget and is a $2.9 million increase over last year. State allocations won’t be fully set until the commonwealth passes its 2025-26 budget, after which the district can reopen its budget for adjustments if necessary.
Federal revenue, which is less than 1% of the budget, is expected to decrease by $140,000 to $1.475 million.
